Any thoughts on the recent HOF inductions? I was happy with all three inductees (Tim Raines, Ivan Rodriguez and Jeff Bagwell); I do feel that Raines is a bit of a borderline candidate, but being probably the second-best base-stealer of all time (808 bases with an 85% success rate) along with being a very good lead-off hitter (around 2600 hits, 123 OPS+, .295 batting average with a .385 OBP) was enough for me. Jeff Bagwell probably should have been in years ago - and would have, were it not for some steroid allegations that have no real evidence behind them. Next year we're looking at probable inductions from Trevor Hoffman and Vlad Guerrero (both of whom just missed this year) and the certain first-ballot inductions of Chipper Jones and Jim Thome. There are some big question marks in the next couple of years, though - Andruw Jones, Todd Helton, Omar Vizquel, Johan Santana, Roy Halliday, etc.

As a Tribe fan, I'd be down for Thome and Vizquel getting in. Saw few guys who hit the ball with more power than Thome, and Vizquel was the best shortstop I'd ever seen (was until Francisco Lindor came along).

For my money Barry Bonds should be in the HOF. I don't care that he juiced up. He was insane before the change was noticeable. It's time to put him in IMO.

Retrology wrote:As a Tribe fan, I'd be down for Thome and Vizquel getting in. Saw few guys who hit the ball with more power than Thome, and Vizquel was the best shortstop I'd ever seen (was until Francisco Lindor came along).

For my money Barry Bonds should be in the HOF. I don't care that he juiced up. He was insane before the change was noticeable. It's time to put him in IMO.

Btw I've been to Cooperstown myself. The HOF is really nice.

Vizquel and Andruw Jones are going to be the most interesting candidates because defensive value is harder to quantify - statistical measures for it are getting better but are still vague. Both Vizquel and Jones are in the top ten all-time in defensive WAR and have some offensive qualifications of note (Vizquel has almost 2900 hits and over 400 steals, Jones has 434 home runs) but I think it going to be hard for both of them - Jim Edmonds (who was considered a wizard in center field in his prime and who had better offensive production than either Vizquel or Jones) fell off the ballot in his first year and Alan Trammel recently hit his final year without being inducted. Thome (who is looked upon, like Frank Thomas was a couple of years ago, as a clean slugger in an age of steroids and who is also extremely well-liked by both the fans and the media) will almost certainly be a first-ballot inductee.

Barry Bonds (I seen him play as a kid back in Three Rivers Stadium) and Roger Clemens were HOF-caliber players long before they started juicing, so I don't have a problem with either of them getting in. I'm comfortable leaving a player out if they wouldn't have been good enough to get in without the enhancements - Sammy Sosa, for example.

It's cool that you've actually been to Cooperstown - I plan to go one day myself, hopefully with my Dad.